Her Heart Belongs to You
by Scribbles-by-Kate
Summary: After the events of "Sympathy for the De Vil", Rumplestiltskin takes the opportunity to talk to Will Scarlet about Belle and Will, seeing that Rumple has got the wrong idea, sets him straight. Rumple then asks a favour of Will. RumBelle, Will/Belle friendship.


_Once Upon a Time_ belongs to Adam, Eddy, and ABC: I'm just playing in the sandbox.

**Her Heart Belongs to You**

Will left Belle in the shop and headed towards Granny's for a drink. He wondered if he should leave her alone. He was worried about her. She wasn't herself today: it was like she wasn't really _there_, but she said she was fine, so…

The streets were quiet as he hurried across for a quick nightcap. He wasn't really paying attention to anything, but then a movement caught his eye and he looked to his left to see Rumplestiltskin stepping out of a dark corner. He jumped.

'Bloody hell!' he cried.

The dark sorcerer smirked a bit, but then his expression turned serious.

'My apologies,' he said.

Will was surprised by the sincere tone. 'Er, no problem,' he said, at a bit of a loss.

'May I have a moment of your time?' Rumplestiltskin asked.

Will figured you probably couldn't say no to the Dark One and leave in one piece, so he nodded.

'Walk with me,' the sorcerer invited.

They walked back towards the shop in silence, Will waiting for the other man to speak.

'How is she?' the Dark One finally asked as they stopped across the street and down the way a bit from the pawnshop.

'You could ask her yourself,' Will suggested, looking at the other man out of the corner of his eye and seeing that he was staring across at the shop.

'Is she alright?' Rumplestiltskin tried again, his voice urgent.

'She's acting a bit strangely,' Will confessed: 'not quite herself.'

Surprisingly, the other man nodded. 'She wouldn't be.'

'Why? What's wrong with her?'

Rumplestiltskin looked at him. 'Regina stole her heart.'

'_What_? Why did she do that?'

'It's my fault,' the other man said. 'I miscalculated and underestimated Regina.'

Will ignored this for a moment. 'Where's Belle's heart now?'

'I've searched all over town for it, but it's not here. Regina must have taken it with her to New York. She's gone in search of Robin Hood.'

'So Belle's got no heart at least until she gets back?'

The sorcerer shot him a dark look. 'Oh, believe me, the moment Regina crosses the town line, I'll get it back, if I have to rip out her precious Robin's to do it.'

Will didn't doubt that for a second.

'You said it was your fault?' he prompted.

The other man nodded. 'It was. I made a threat that was intended to get Regina's co-operation, but it had the opposite effect.'

'This threat, I'm guessing it was something to do with Robin?'

'It was. I had no intention of acting on it, but it may happen anyway now that Regina's gone charging after him. My plan would have brought him back here soon enough, but now he'll arrive with someone no one in this town wants to see again, least of all me.'

'Who?' Will asked, noticing the other man's discomfort.

'You recall the Wicked Witch, Zelena?'

'Aye, but she's dead.'

'I thought that too, since I'm the one who killed her, but alas… She escaped into the past, discovered Robin's wife Marian, killed her, took her place, and returned here with Emma Swan and Hook. She's been posing as her ever since.'

Will tried to process what he'd heard. 'Sooo… Zelena's Marian, and she's with Robin? And Regina took Belle's heart because you made a threat against him?'

'My threat was that unless Regina co-operated with me, I would call Zelena and she would kill Robin.'

'Right. So, it really is your fault Belle doesn't have her heart.' Will glared at him. Probably not wise since Dark One and all, but he couldn't help it.

'Believe me, you can't be more angry with me than I am with myself,' Rumplestiltskin said ruefully.

'Why are you telling _me_ this? Why not her?'

'I've already spoken with Belle.'

That surprised Will. 'She never said.'

'That's because she doesn't remember. Regina told her to forget our conversation. She doesn't know she doesn't have her heart and it would be better if she didn't find out. The last thing I want to do is upset her any more than I already have by telling her what happened. Once I find her heart, it'll be returned and she'll never have to know she was without it.'

Will looked at him. The man looked pained: lost and sad, like the light was gone from his life.

'She'd want to see you, you know. She keeps the shop running for you. She hasn't said, but I know she's hoping you'll come by.'

Rumplestiltskin shook his head. 'It's better this way. I'll get her heart from Regina and then you can return it.'

Surprised, Will took a step back, hands raised. 'What? No, mate,' he demurred: 'not my place.'

Rumplestiltskin frowned. 'You and she are together: who else would she trust to do it?'

Will frowned. 'Together? Together as in _together_?'

Rumplestiltskin winced. 'Please. This is hard enough for me without it having to be spelled out.' He sighed. 'If it must be said, I know that you and Belle are romantically involved.'

'What?!' Will cried. 'Who told you that?'

Rumplestiltskin glared at him. 'I do have eyes to see, Mr Scarlet,' he said coldly. 'I saw you two kiss through the shop window.'

'Whoa, mate,' Will said, holding his hands up again, 'I'm a married man and she's a married woman, so whatever you thought you saw, you didn't. She's kissed me on the cheek a couple of times and we hug, and we spend time together, but we're not involved in _that_ way.'

Rumplestiltskin stared at him. 'You're not?'

'Absolutely not, mate,' Will said emphatically. He wrinkled his nose. 'It'd be like kissing me sister.' He looked at the other man. 'You really thought there was something between us?'

'When I pretended to be Hook, I asked her about you. She said what she had with you was new, that you made her smile, and it was a relief to spend time with someone who didn't pretend to be anything other than what he was. She seemed happy. If you made her happy, then I could try to be happy for her. I know I ruined everything, but at least I hadn't broken her completely.'

Will could see his sincerity and he didn't want him labouring under a false assumption.

'Mate, you should really talk to her,' he said. 'She tries to be strong, but she misses you a lot. Look, the day I met her, I went into the library to find a book and I found her sobbing her heart out. Now, I may be a thief, but it goes against my nature to see a woman crying and not try to help, so I spoke to her. I knew who she was and what had happened: the whole town knew, and we had a long talk about being in love with people who do bad things. We discovered we had a lot in common, and we got comfort from each other. She offered to help me find a way back to my wife and we've been spending time together and doing research ever since. We support each other, and she's like a sister to me: that's all.'

It was strange to see the emotions play across Rumplestiltskin's face. There was hope, relief, gratitude, love, and even resignation and sadness. For all his fearsome reputation, it was clear he did love Belle, but why did he look a little sad?

'Thank you,' he said quietly. 'I appreciate your candour.'

Will nodded. 'No problem. So, you'll get her heart and give it back to her, yeah? She wouldn't want anyone else to hold it, since it belongs to you anyway.'

Rumplestiltskin nodded. 'Yes. Thank you.'

Will shook his head. 'I'm just glad you two will sort everything out.'

But Rumplestiltskin still looked sad.

'Thank you, Mr Scarlet,' he said quietly.

'You're welcome, Rumplestiltskin.'

'Will you do one thing for me?' Rumplestiltskin asked.

'If I can.'

'Take care of Belle?'

Will gave him a look. 'You can do that now that you're back, though,' he insisted.

Rumplestiltskin shook his head sadly. 'I'm not what she needs.'

'Beg to differ, mate.' Belle had been pining for Rumplestiltskin: he was exactly what she needed.

'Trust me,' Rumplestiltskin insisted: 'me being around her only ever causes her pain.'

'If you mean Regina taking her heart, Regina did that on her own: she didn't have to make that choice.'

'I don't mean just Regina. That's part of it, yes, but there's something else, something much bigger. I can't be with Belle, not like this.'

'Like what?'

'There's a reason I'm called the Dark One: I'm sure you know that.'

'Course I do, but Belle loves you.'

He nodded. 'And I love her, but I can't love her properly like this, tainted by darkness. I'm trying to fix it, but I'm running out of time. In the event that I fail, I'm asking you for a favour: take care of Belle? Try to keep her smiling.'

'I promise,' Will said, 'but she'd want to know. She'd want to help.'

'I know she would, but it's better for her if she moves on. Good night, Mr Scarlet.'

And just like that, Rumplestiltskin disappeared in a cloud of magic, leaving Will alone and wondering just how to deal with what he'd just learned. For all his intelligence, the sorcerer was pretty thick if he thought Belle would just forget about him.

Oh, Will would keep his promise to look after Belle, alright, but he'd made no promise to keep what he'd learned a secret. Rumplestiltskin would thank him in the end, he was sure.

**The End. Thanks for reading :)**


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